Method and apparatus for generating a web-based user interface

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for generating a user interface comprising generating an interface information packet comprising user interface information readable by a script-based application, sending the interface information packet to a client device, and generating a user interface of the client device via a display engine in accordance with the interface information packet.

RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/288,460 filed 21 Oct. 2008, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present disclosure generally relates to a network based computer interaction and, more particularly, to generating a web-based user interface for a client device.

2. Related Art

Computer systems exist that enable a user to remotely access computer information, e.g., a database. In some instances a user will use a client device, e.g., cell phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), lap top computer, application specific device, and the like, to connect via a network to a server hosting the information. Such devices have a predefined interface for accessing the computer information from the server. The interface may be created by a program or agent executing on the device; however, such programs or agents require substantial processing resources and memory availability which make them unsuitable for many devices. The interface, produced by such programs or agents, is static—the user enters data and/or queries in predefined fields.

More recently, to accommodate a wide range of devices, browsers have been used to launch web pages that form the interface to the computer information (i.e., web-based user interface). Although web-based user interfaces generally utilize less computer resources than application (program) based interfaces, the interface remains static, i.e., once created, the interface remains the same for each user. Such a static nature to the interface may impact worker productivity in that the interface cannot be easily optimized to their work habits.

Specifically, web pages are typically static (as predefined in HTML form) or dynamically generated using an application server (as in PHP or ASP form). This arrangement results in either a completely static web page, or a web page that must be rendered by the browser any time an update is made by the application server. Furthermore, anytime an update is made to the page, the application server must resend the entire page. This process is time consuming and may result in a sluggish and time consuming user experience.

Although applications exist which are capable of running interactive web sites, they typically require a large install, significant processing power, and a significant amount of data to be transmitted to and from the application server. These requirements make the applications unsuitable for uses on many types of devices, such as mobile devices. These devices are often limited to static interfaces for these reasons.

It would be advantageous if it were possible to access a web application through a user interface that does not require the installation of a large application or resending an entire web page. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a dynamic web user interface generator.

SUMMARY

An embodiment of the invention comprises a method and apparatus for generating a web-based user interface. The method comprises generating an interface information packet, sending the interface information packet to a client device, and generating a user interface of the client device via a display engine in accordance with the interface information packet. The interface information packet comprises user interface information readable by a script-based application. The display engine comprises the script-based application.

An embodiment of the apparatus comprises a web-based user interface generator and a display engine. The web-based user interface generator generates an interface information packet comprising user interface definition information readable by a script-based application, and sends the information packet to a client device. The display engine, comprising the script-based application, parses the interface information packet and generates a user interface from the data contained therein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present invention can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the invention, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments.

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram depicting a computer network in which an embodiment of the present invention is used;

FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of the host computer of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the client device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a method of creating an information packet in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an information packet sent to a client device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a method of generating a user interface of a client application in response to the receipt of an information packet in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram depicting an embodiment of a system 100 for generating a web-based user interface 108 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment, the system comprises a host computer 102, one or more client device(s) 104, and a network 106 coupling the host computer 102 and the client device(s) 104. The host computer 102 generates interface information packets sent to the client device 104 to generate the web-based user interface 108. Because the web-based user interface 108 is generated by the host computer, a separate instance of the interface can be stored for each client device 104. The host computer may comprise a host application that communicates with the client device 104, or the host application may be located on another host computer. In one embodiment, the host computer 102 may be coupled to a database application server 110. The host computer 102 may provide a gateway interface 112 to the database application server 110 for the client device(s) 104. This gateway interface 112 allows the client device 104 to interact with the database application server 110 via a web browser environment. In one embodiment, the gateway interface 112 facilitates communication between the client device 104 and the database application server 110 by providing additional data, function calls, wrapper functions, and the like not present in the initial communication from the client device. In one embodiment, the gateway interface 112 parses communications from the database application server 110 into a format readable by the client device 104.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram depicting an embodiment of the host computer 102. The host computer 102 is a computing device such as those generally known in the art. The host computer 102 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 204, support circuits 206, and memory 208. The CPU 204 may comprise one or more commercially available microprocessors or microcontrollers that facilitate data processing and storage. The various supporting circuits 206 are utilized to facilitate the operation of the CPU 204 and include such circuits as clock circuits, power supplies, cache, input/output circuits, and the like. The memory 208 may comprise random access memory, read only memory, removable storage, optical disk storage, disk drive storage, and combinations thereof. The memory 208 stores a server operating system 210, a host application 212, a client data table 214, a user interface generator 216, an interface information packet 218, a gateway interface 112, and a protocol coupler 222. In operation, the CPU 204 executes the operating system 210 to control the general utilization and functionality of the host computer 102.

The CPU 204 also executes the host application 212. The host application 212 listens for an incoming request from the network 106. In one embodiment, when the incoming request is received, the host application 212 executes a user interface generator 216 to create an interface information packet 218 comprising interface definition information for the interface of the client device 104. A person of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that in another embodiment of the invention, it is possible to incorporate the user interface generator 216 into the host application. When the user interface generator 216 is executed by the host application 212, it creates an interface information packet 218, as discussed in detail with respect to FIG. 5. The interface information packet 218 comprises interface definition information. The interface information packet 218 is then sent to the client device 104.

In one embodiment, the host computer 102 may further comprise a protocol coupler 222. The protocol coupler 222 provides an interface for the gateway interface 112 to communicate with the user interface generator 216. The protocol coupler 222 translates communications received from a database application server 110 into a format readable by the user interface generator 216. The user interface generator 216 uses these communications to generate interface information packets 218 to generate the user interface 108.

In one embodiment, the host computer 102 may further comprise a client data table 214. The client data table 214 stores one or more client interface states 220. The client data table 214 resides in memory and may comprise a database, a data table, or any other data structure capable of storing client interface information. The client interface states 220 represent a current state of a client device user interface. In this embodiment, the user interface generator 216 queries the client data table 214 for the client interface state 220 comprising a device that sent the incoming network request. The interface information packet 218 is generated in accordance with the client information state 220 corresponding to the client device 104.

FIG. 3 depicts a block diagram of an embodiment of the client device 104. The client device 104 is a computing device such as those generally known in the art. In one embodiment, the client device may comprise one of a hand-held bar code reader, a cellular phone, a PDA, a personal computer, or any other wired or wireless computing device that supports a web browser. The client device 104 includes a CPU 302, support circuits 304, and memory 308. The CPU 302 may comprise one or more commercially available microprocessors or microcontrollers that facilitate data processing and storage. The various supporting circuits 304 are utilized to facilitate the operation of the CPU 302 and include such circuits as clock circuits, power supplies, cache, input/output circuits, and the like. The memory 306 may comprise random access memory, read only memory, removable storage, optical disk storage, disk drive storage, and combinations thereof. The memory 306 stores an operating system 308 and a client application 312. In operation, the CPU 302 executes the operating system 308 to control the general utilization and functionality of the client device 106.

The CPU 302 also executes the client application 312. The client application 312 may comprise a web browser or a binary application that executes a web browser module. The client application 312 receives interface information packets 218 from the host application 212 executed by the host computer 102. In one embodiment, the client application 312 may provide an interface to a database application server 110 coupled to the host computer 102. The client application 312 may communicate with a host application 212 executed on the host computer 102, which may in turn communicate with the database application server 110. The host application 212 may modify the communications received from the client application 312 to make said communications suitable for interaction with the database application server 110. Responses to these communications may be received from the database application server 110 by the host application 212, and may in turn be communicated to the client application 312 by the host application 212. In this manner, the client application 312 may communicate with the database application server 110 when such communication would ordinarily not be possible. The client application 312 further comprises a display engine 310. The display engine 310 is executed from within the client application 312 for the purpose of generating the user interface 108. Interface information packets 218 received by the client application 312 are processed by the display engine 310. In one embodiment, the client application 312 is, at least in part, a web browser and the display engine 310 executes within the browser.

The display engine 310 generates the user interface in accordance with the data contained within the interface information packet 218. In one embodiment, the display engine 310 comprises a set of commands provided in a scripted language. Such applications are commonly used in web-based applications because they do not require binary executable code to be sent to the client device 104. One example of such a scripted language is JAVASCRIPT.

The display engine 310 executes in a web browser environment, and accepts interface information packets 218 received via the web without the need for the web browser to render the interface itself. The task of generating the user interface 108 is left to the display engine 310, rather than the browser from which it was launched. In one embodiment, the display engine 310 generates the user interface 108 by modifying the Document Object Model (DOM) of a displayed web page. In this manner it is possible for the display engine 310 to generate a user interface 108 via the intermediate representations provided by the interface information packets 218, rather than resending the entire web page, as would normally be required.

The display engine 310 generates a user interface in accordance with the interface information packets 218 received from the host computer 102. The client application may receive the interface information packet 218 at any time, as they may be used for such purposes as refreshing a user interface screen.

FIG. 4 depicts an embodiment of a method 400 for generating an interface information packet. The method begins at step 402. At step 404, the host application 102 executes the user interface generator 216, indicating that an interface information packet 218 should be generated. The notification may be generated for any reason the host application 102 would send an interface information packet 218 for the client user interface, such as a timer indicating the screen must be refreshed, a response to a network request received from the client device 104, a response to a network request received from another client device, and the like. Unlike a normal web page, which requires a request to be sent from the client device 104 to the host computer 102, an interface information packet 218 may be sent to modify the client user interface 108 at any time.

At step 406, the user interface generator 216 accesses the client data table 214. Then, at step 408 the user interface generator 216 then determines the client interface state 220 corresponding to the client device 104 for which the interface information packet 218 is generated. At step 410, the interface information packet 218 is generated comprised of the client information state 220 determined in step 408. At step 412, the interface information packet 218 is communicated to the host application to send the interface information packet 218 to the client device 104. At step 414, the user interface generator 216 saves the client interface state 220 corresponding to the client device 104 in the client data table 214. The method ends at step 416 after the packet has been sent and the client interface state 220 saved.

FIG. 5 depicts an embodiment of an information packet 218. In one embodiment, the information packet 218 is comprised of one or more user interface definitions. The user interface definitions are comprised of data describing the client user interface. In one embodiment, the user interface definitions may be comprised of one or more of a JAVASCRIPT Object Notation (JSON) data structure. The JSON structure comprises data describing a screen object 502. The screen object 502 corresponds to a particular screen of the client application 312. Each screen object 502 comprises one or more of a control object 504. The control object 504 is comprised of data indicating which user interface control, such as a list box, text entry field, text label, and the like, is modified. Each control object 504 also comprises a position 506, which corresponds to the position of the control object on the screen.

FIG. 6 depicts a block diagram of an embodiment of a method 600 to generate a user interface of a client device 104 upon receipt of an interface information packet 218. The method begins at step 602. At step 604, the client device 104 receives an interface information packet 218. At step 606, the client application 312 accesses the information contained within the interface information packet 218. At step 608, the display engine 310 generates a user interface 108 in accordance with the data accessed from the interface information packet 218. The method ends at step 610 when the data from the interface information packet 218 has been incorporated into the user interface 108.

While the foregoing is directed to embodiments of the present invention, other and further embodiments of the invention may be devised without departing from the basic scope thereof, and the scope thereof is determined by the claims that follow. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of generating a user interface comprising: generating an interface information packet comprising user interface definition information for use by a script-based application; sending the interface information packet to a client device; and generating a user interface of the client device via a display engine executing within a web browser, in accordance with instructions contained within the interface information packet, where the display engine comprises the script-based application. 